The 2013 Radio Social Media Strategy Reveal

Thanksgiving weekend hopefully allows you to “pull the plug” after working so hard to prepare your brands for the long holiday weekend. Some time with family and friends is exactly what most broadcast professionals need after slugging it through tough battles for ratings and deep challenges on the employee level in this business, among other things. However, if you are fortunate, this time of year also allows you to reflect on your success and think about additional ways you can improve in 2013 and grow your business.

The opportunities you have to get more for less are not bigger anywhere than they are when you think about what you are currently doing in social media for your radio brand or brands. Is there real value in social media? Of course there is. No one invests hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars without an expectation that the bet could turn into billions. Did you know that Google invested in YouTube because they feared that people would one day stop searching using words and only search video? It’s true. I mention this here because a lot of radio station content managers try to do so much with words, and the emotion of our business is so completely visual. Visual is a huge key to scoring in social media.

The world is changing. You know this. You know that social media is something important if for no other reason than listeners are choosing to waste tons of time on social media platforms. You will either be there sincerely and effectively encouraging them to come back and spend time with your brand or brands, or you will be left more and more out of touch and out of the future. The question is: Do you have a plan to use social media for your purposes or are you falling in with everyone else so you have a Facebook page and you are on Twitter, but little is actually happening on a local level for your brand or brands?

Between now and January 1, 2013, shouldn’t you really pull back the ears on your social media and take a look at why you do what you are doing on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms? Shouldn’t you spend the time to really see if you have a plan that works for the goals you want to reach in 2013?

How do you do that? Here we go:

1. Review all of your social media. How effectively are you using each platform? What do you know about your listeners and the reasons they use Facebook? Why are they on Twitter? What are the local-based activity levels on each and the other social media platforms?

2. Think about your local radio brands. How do you encourage the listeners you most want to attract in your local market to share your content, make you part of their “social media life,” and ultimately think about your radio station or stations at the moment of decision (which happens in both PPM and diary markets)?

3. What is your visual presence like on each of the social media platforms? Are you representing the reasons people in your market choose to listen to your radio brand?

4. Are you encouraging the relationship as a two-way conversation or are your social media efforts a promotion vehicle only?

5. Finally, think about the things you would like to accomplish with social media in 2013 and build a plan that involves true engagement, higher two-way conversations, affirmation for local listeners (to drive more loyalty for your personalities and brands), and make sure your content is really reflective of a friendly and fun local companion for people who really just want to escape the daily grind of things in their lives.

Radio has always been social and personal. Your mission is to always focus on radio. However, social media platforms now represent a significant opportunity for you if you choose to take up the challenge.

*Content originally appeared @ RadioInk.com. For more content on radio, go to RadioInk.com. Look for my column on social media and radio on the left-hand side of the homepage behind my picture and the word “Engagement.”